Gwyneth J. Saunders/The Sun Today Joe Burke runs the controls of track six in the Model Railroader's newest display during their winter open house. Sun City resident Carol Van Driak brought her three grandsons to the exhibit, including Will, 1, who seems fascinated by the little trains.

Little guys and gals visiting their grandparents over the holidays were treated to a kid's-eye view of the Sun City Model Railroaders' new train layout.

When a guest observed that "the little boys are fascinated," club member Bill Walker said "The big boys are, too."

The heavily laden freight trains originate “somewhere in Pittsburgh to load coal and travel to a power plant near Asheville, N.C.” Along the way, both freight and passenger trains travel high above rivers, through towns, roar in and out of tunnels, pass by farms and stop for passengers.

There’s even a roundhouse demonstrated by engineer Jon Davis who showed visitors how the CSR engine could be rerouted from one track to another.

As the four volunteers manning the controls demonstrated, different trains emit different whistles and bells. They can also go different speeds, much to the delight of observers, although there is apparently a “speed limit” on these rails.

“Is that you racing around on track six?” asked member Mike Stroud of Joe Burke. Burke slowed his train down a little, still learning after joining the club a year and a half ago.

“I knew nothing about trains until I moved off the island and came in here,” said Burke. “It’s fun. It’s a nice group of people to be working with. And it keeps me out of the pool halls.”

Stroud said Burke does a lot of the grunt work, such as laying the gravel on the tracks. If it sounds like work in real life, it’s also labor-intensive when it comes to laying tiny imitation gravel between the narrow rails of the toy tracks, especially when there is a real world mile’s-worth of track.

Many of the members come with a love of model trains and have train layouts in their homes.

“When I first came to Sun City nine years ago, I built my own layout in our house. My wife eventually said to me ‘You’re in this room a lot. Why don’t you go down and check it out at the woodworkers?’ I did and the camaraderie is great,” Davis said.

Still a work in progress, the design — created, built and staffed by the 30-some members of the Model Railroaders — is in its 24th month of rebuilding, said Stroud. "It's about 80 percent finished on the scenery and only about 20 percent finished with the wiring."

The remaining wiring, he said, will provide a lot of the special effects, such as lighting the buildings.

Something that works well for the railroaders is being in the same building as the woodworkers. Until the recent renovations, the doorway to the train room was in the woodshop. One of the changes made was to remove the door, make a solid wall and create an entrance to the railroad room through the main lobby.

The new layout allows for more visitor viewing, room for wheelchairs and a much easier access for the members to the hidden mechanics of the railroad operations.

At the end of the day, the engineers reroute their trains into the train yard or a central spot at the back of the display and shut down the power. The owners then pack up their engines — the more valuable part of the train.

“If you listen closely when the engines stop,” Stroud said with a mischievous twinkle, “you can hear the engineers shut the doors and pocket their keys.”

RIDE THE RAILS

To join the Model Railroaders group, call president Nick Del Pozzo at 705-3088 for information. The group is open to all Sun City Hilton Head residents.